


Thoughts on the Third Semester

by Kaoupa



Series: Thoughts and Dreams (of Fanfics Yet To Come) [6]
Category: Persona 1, Persona 2, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Possession Theory, educated guesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26384074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoupa/pseuds/Kaoupa
Summary: A theory on what was going on behind the scenes in Persona 5 Royal's Third Semester.(I do not own Persona, and I am not sure if this is against the site rules - if it is, I will take it down without question if someone tells me that it is and provides a link to where it says that).
Series: Thoughts and Dreams (of Fanfics Yet To Come) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861861
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Thoughts on the Third Semester

I just started going through the Third Semester today, after playing through the rest of Persona 5 Royal (yes, I know I am way behind a lot of other people, but that’s beside the point). And I mostly went in blind - I knew Maruki was the end boss and that Kasumi was Sumire, but I more or less tried to go in without knowing anything about the smaller details. I couldn’t miss the big reveals, sadly, but I did skip over the smaller stuff).

I played through the original Persona 5 too, as well - New game Plus as well, before I started Royal. And I’ll be honest, the changes that they made - they were mostly pretty good. (I honestly haven’t seen too much of Sumire/Kasumi in the story, to be blunt, and I would have liked to see more early on - granted, I am just now starting Maruki’s Palace in-depth, and I just got through the battle with Sumire and Cendrillion. Which was honestly pretty damn sad - I already knew her story, but it was pretty clear how deeply she was hurting. But yeah. More KaSumire would be nice.). And seeing Azathoth’s tentacles burst from the floor - and how Maruki drove her Persona berserk for that fight - kind of made it clear he was supposed to be the villain here. One with very good intentions, but still.

But a few other things I have read on the internet about Persona - including other fanfics - had me thinking. And eventually, I developed a theory. Here it goes.

Maruki clearly was not in his right mind when he decided to override the world - I don’t think anyone is going to deny that. People with Palaces tend to not have entirely right minds (and it is a true credit to how good of a person Takuto Maruki is that he has a Palace and remains one of the nicest people in the story). Palaces were described in “Ace in the Hole” - another fine Persona story I recommend - as being representative of when someone’s inner Shadow has more or less completely overtaken them. Which seems to fit with the Palaces we see in the story.

All sounding good so far? Okay, keep reading. Because I have not done a true rough draft here, this is all mostly unedited, and I hope it makes sense.

Because I am convinced that Takuto Maruki was an unknowing pawn of the two greatest powers in the Persona universe - Philemon and Nyarlathotep.

Hear me out.

From a read of TV tropes and a look at the final boss fight, it seems that Maruki, when he summons his Persona, keeps his mask on all the time. No big deal, right? He developed a Persona independently of the main characters - all the different Persona-users in each Persona game (at least from 3 onwards) have different summoning methods, so him not taking his mask off is rather minor in comparison. 

However, I also read an “Ambiguous situation” entry where it posited that Maruki had actually been given his powers by someone else artificially - and due to a lack of knowledge on the situation, everyone just assumed it was a Persona.

In other words, considering what I said earlier?

At some point in the past, Philemon, for some reason, gave Takuto Maruki a gift of power, similar to what Izanami did in 4 - which led to Maruki gaining the “Persona” of Adam Kadmon, and the ability to alter people’s cognitions. Why Philemon might have done this, I have no idea. As part of a plan, probably. What it might be, I don’t know - but either way, Maruki got blessed by Philemon. And when Maruki was defeated, and lost his powers, since it wasn’t a true Persona that represented his Shadow (and as such was not a true part of him), it didn’t come back. 

Maybe a bit of a stretch, but not totally. I hope.

Sounding good so far?

You all know how the next part goes - Doctor Maruki, due to uncontrollable tragedies in his life and his desire to make everyone happy and save them from their own pain, develops a Palace. Since his “Persona” isn’t a totally real one, it doesn’t become a Shadow. (What happened to Maruki’s actual Shadow, I have no idea - and to be frank, that is something I would like an explanation for). Maybe he fused with it after the Day of Reckoning? We didn’t see it the first time we went in, after all - or maybe he was aware he had a Palace and subconsciously kept it away from us. Or something else entirely. Who knows.

And after the Day of Reckoning - this is where Nyarlathotep comes in. The Shadow of Mankind - who also happens to be part of the Cthulhu Mythos. Like Azathoth. 

Azathoth, who is the corrupted form of Adam Kadmon. Adam Kadmon, who is described (on “the other wiki”, at least) as divine light without a vessel, pure potential - the collective essence of the soul. A realm of infinite divine light. It isn’t clear on what happens after that - but it sounds sort of like Philemon and what he is. The embodiment of human capacity for good.

And after the Day where Yaldabaoth went down and Maruki got his powers, Nyarlathotep took one look at the situation and saw the opportunity of a lifetime.

All he had to do, more or less, was get Maruki to wipe everyone’s memories to help them stay happy - he probably didn’t even have to possess him or anything, he just had to whisper the idea in Maruki’s ear. After corrupting Adam Kadmon into Azathoth - or taking advantage of that happening without his input, I don’t know. I haven’t seen what actually happened to give Maruki Yaldabaoth’s powers - that is, I have not seen an actual scene yet. Maybe it comes later in the Palace. But what I have read suggests it probably won’t be coming at all.

From what I have read about Nyarlathotep, it sounds like something he’d do, right?

So - yeah. The world is now under the domain of Takuto Maruki, who has changed people’s memories so even the people who can do something about it can’t tell anything is wrong (and even if they did realize it,  _ might not want to do anything about it) _ , has a “Persona” whispering in his ear that’s a conduit to Nyarlathotep, formed a Palace and given in to his Shadow’s desires - very pleasant and kind desires, but still. Desires can change. Nyarlathotep can probably work the long game - and Maruki probably has forty or fifty years left in his life. Plenty of time for him to change, especially with a certain someone whispering in his ear.

And if Nyarlathotep’s supposed to be the embodiment of humanity’s capacity for evil or something like that, him turning the world into a personal entertainment firm/torture chamber sounds totally up his alley.

And a brilliant part? Maruki - essentially the front man in the operation -  _ doesn’t know any of this.  _ His desires might be distorted, but like we see, they are genuinely good desires (the methods are questionable very often, granted). Again - the front man/Unwitting Pawn, who doesn’t even know Nyarlathotep’s manipulating him. (To be honest, if it wasn’t for the brainwashing thing/removing memories from everyone thing, I would probably have taken the deal without a second thought - but I would have tried to talk him down somewhat. As it is, I doubt I would not take the offer to some degree if it wasn’t for the fact I’m genuinely convinced this theory is what is happening behind the scenes). 

Maybe that’s just my mind being black and white, seeking to resolve Maruki of all responsibility. I’m not going to deny that I am being  _ very  _ black and white here - in P5R I don’t think the choice was portrayed as anything but gray. And I am sort of pro-Maruki, it seems.

But yeah. This sounds to me like a totally brilliant evil scheme. Tell me it doesn’t. And the Lovecraftian miniboss where Akechi and Joker do their Showtime to finish it off does nothing to make me convinced this isn’t a solid theory. Or at least not one that can be outright dismissed. And Nyarlathotep did something like this in the first Persona game too, I think (I never looked into the storylines of 1 or 2 deeply, or played them at all, so I can’t be sure).

And Philemon seems to be pretty hands-off, which could explain why he didn’t show up directly either to do anything about this.

And come to think of it, Lavenza and Igor not being able to show up even in the early stages without considerable effort… how does that make sense? Caroline and Justine and Lavenza showed up in Mementos and the Qliphoth World just fine. If Nyarlathotep did something like this, maybe that was his effort to cut them off from giving aid to Joker or telling him everything, or something like that.

Either way, this is made up of a lot of headcanons and guessing, and several big gaps (like, why didn't Philemon show up if Nyarlathotep was doing so much?), but I think it makes some level of sense. At least.

**Author's Note:**

> (The “Nyarlathotep whispering in somebody’s ear” thing was probably to some degree inspired by “Black Star”, yet another Persona 5 fanfic).
> 
> In hindsight... the Hours Verse and Black Star gave me some of the ideas that inspired this theory.


End file.
